Cleopatra's Second Husband

Jon Reiss
USA, 1998, 93 mins.

Producers: Jill Goldman, David Scott Rubin, Jacqui de la Fontaine, Jon Reiss. Screenwriter Jon Reiss
Director of Photography: Matt Faw
Editor: Toby Yates
Music: Cary Berger
Principal cast: Paul Hipp, Boyd Kestner, Bitty Schram, Radha Mitchell, Alexis Arquette, Jonathan Penner, Nancye Ferguson.

This particularly gruesome, intensely disturbing psychological thriller by first time feature filmmaker Jonathan Reiss takes you deep into the psyche of a seemingly mild mannered, eager to please photographer, Robert Marrs (Paul Hipp). His whining wife would send any other man running, but Robert's the kind of guy who can't say no. Oddly, it's Marrs' houseguest Zack who severely tests his limits. An innovative photography project involving captured insects is trans-formed under Zack's influence into an obsession that promis-es far more fascinating results. You will never forget this demonic, twisted cross between Jonathan Demme's Something Wild and Harold Pinter's The Servant. Reiss is not only a consummate filmmaker, but could give some shrinks quite a run for their money. - Lynda Hansen